Paris 2024 Olympics opening ceremony: flying cauldron and rainy boat parade – as it happened

Time to say au revoir from the 33rd Summer Olympic Games’ opening night in Paris. Here’s a roundup of our coverage, featuring Céline Dion’s comeback, boat-loads of sporting legends, a steampunk hot-air balloon – and rain, rain, rain.Here’s Sean Ingle on a rainy night in Paris lit up by an Olympian message of hope.Five highlights from the opening ceremony, from Lady Gaga to a confusing subplot:There was a moment, about an hour into Paris 2024’s Grand Opening Spectacular, as the rain soaked through shoes, trousers, socks and eventually skin, hair and bone; as yet more boats of waving people chugged down the Seine, like watching an endless series of weirdly nationalistic office parties; as some men did some dancing in a place, for reasons that frankly seemed quite remote at that point, where a thought occurred. Maybe this wasn’t just the worst Olympic opening ceremony ever

‘Dream with us’: Bach delivers message of hope as rain fails to ruin Paris parade

Towards the end of a night where the Parisian skies opened like sluice gates and did their damnedest to drown the ambitions of the most audacious opening ceremony in history, the head of the Paris Olympics had the confidence to crack a joke.“When you love the Games, first of all you don’t let a few drops of rain bother you,” said Tony Estanguet. “Thank you to all those lovers of the Games who are with us – a little soggy – tonight!”A few drops! If only. But while the rain soaked the skin, it did nothing to blunt the spirit among the thousands of athletes who took the 6km journey along the Seine, or the 330,000 spectators who cheered them on their way. Because for hours and hours they sang, danced and laughed like they were at the greatest party in the world

Céline Dion rescues Olympic parade after rain-soaked hostage to hubris | Barney Ronay

The Parisian rain showed there is a good reason why Olympic opening ceremonies are held in stadiumsAvant: le deluge. There was a moment, about an hour into Paris 2024’s Grand Opening Spectacular, as the rain soaked through shoes, trousers, socks and eventually skin, hair and bone; as yet more boats of waving people chugged down the Seine, like watching an endless series of weirdly nationalistic office parties; as some men did some dancing in a place, for reasons that frankly seemed quite remote at that point, where a thought occurred.Maybe this wasn’t just the worst Olympic opening ceremony ever. Maybe this wasn’t the worst outdoor event ever. Maybe this was the worst thing ever

Paris Olympic Games opening ceremony: a high-kitsch, riverside spectacle

The Paris Olympic Games opened on Friday night with a high-kitsch, riverside spectacle, as an armada of boats carried athletes along the Seine, dancers dangled from high poles, drag queens paraded on bridges and the Olympic rings lit up the Eiffel Tower – all under unrelenting, torrential rain.France had promised its opening ceremony would be the biggest open-air show on Earth. More than 300,000 people watched from the riverside and bridges – and hundreds more stood at windows and balconies – as a show of dance, live music and acrobatics unfolded along more than 6km of river from the Pont d’Austerlitz to the Eiffel Tower.The show had promised to light-heartedly deconstruct French stereotypes, and the US singer Lady Gaga was the first star to set the tone for a tongue-in-cheek kitsch spectacle. She appeared from a giant golden staircase on the edge of the Seine surrounded by pink pompoms and giant pink feather fans, for a high-kicking cabaret performance of France’s famous 1960s music-hall number Mon Truc en plumes by Zizi Jeanmaire

Carl Lewis, Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams endure rocky Seine boat ride with Olympic flame

Carl Lewis, as a nine-time Olympic champion and the IOC’s sportsman of the 20th century, has faced down some formidable foes over the years. But at Friday’s opening ceremony for the Paris Games he nearly came unstuck against his toughest opponent yet: a rocking boat.I don’t think anyone explained to Carl Lewis what his role was… breakneck speed down the river on a wet night, standing up and holding a flame 👍 pic.twitter.com/RgceNq8cI8The former sprinter joined fellow gold medalists Serena Williams, Rafael Nadal and Nadia Comăneci on a boat that roared down the Seine carrying the Olympic flame to the traditional cauldron lighting ceremony

Singing, spectacle and subplots on the Seine in the rain

Five highlights of an innovative, and very wet, Olympic opening ceremony in ParisThe opening ceremony of the Paris Olympic Games – the first ever to be organised outside a stadium – has unfurled on the Seine River against a spectacular backdrop of the capital’s most celebrated monuments. Here are some takeaways:“Jeux pluvieux, jeux heureux,” suggested the TV commentators, in mild desperation: a rainy Games is a happy Games. Four hours before the start, Météo France issued a yellow alert for the Paris region, warning of “continual, at times intense rainfall, with risk of flooding”.And rain it did, on a sporting armada of 8,000 of the world’s top athletes sailing down 6km of the Seine on 90 boats – as dancers, singers, tightrope walkers, acrobats, breakers and drag queens performed on water, rooftops, bridges and artificial islands for 300,000 spectators.Last month it rained so much that the Seine was running four or five times faster than its summer norm, prompting concern from the director of ceremonies, Thierry Reboul, that “if the river’s flowing too quickly, the boats will outrun” the show